Prim-Ed had a major success a few years ago with a book called Mental Maths. I would imagine it is on most primary schools’ booklists. The method behind it was it took 20 random maths questions from the curriculum and, each day, the child would fill in a column and see how many he got … Read more
Maths: It’s Rocket Science summer course in Dunsink Observatory I’ve been teaching for 12 years now. That’s quite a lot of summer courses! And this summer, I attended the best summer course ever! I’ve grown tired of online courses at this point. They are fine for some people but really don’t suit my learning style. … Read more
It seems that we are over a hump in Irish education. Most of us are no longer asking whether technology should be used in education anymore, and instead, we are now asking how should we use technology in our classrooms to enhance children’s learning? Granted, it’s taken a long time for us to get here … Read more
With the baffling cuts to language learning in our primary schools in a time where learning languages such as French, German and Spanish has never been more important, there needs to be some sort of service out there for young children. Thankfully, the UK don’t seem to be as short sighted when it comes to … Read more
Phonic dictation-a task based approach is a series of four books that intend to help children’s ability to transfer phonic and spelling skills to reading and writing task. These books begin at senior infant level and work up to 3/4th class level. They are written by a speech pathologist( a speech therapist, to me and … Read more
Rí Rá is a new Irish language comic for children. It is a bright glossy affair with lots of short punchy scripts with mainly manga-style characters providing the storylines. I must admit before I opened the comic in a café that I was not expecting much but by the time I had put down the … Read more
Student Management Information Systems are the big thing in the Irish Primary School system at the moment. For those not in the know about these systems, essentially a Management Information System (MIS) is a piece of software that allows a school to store administrative information about pupils, staff, attendance, enrollments and lots more. It provides … Read more
The Olympics will be held in London this year and Prim-Ed are the official educational partners of the Irish Olympic team. They have released a complete pack of stickers, banners, borders and books to help children learn all about the Olympics. There are three levels – lower, middle and upper. The lower level would suit … Read more
So, it’s all about puppets! Well, this new book puppets at large by Linda Betley and endorsed by Jenny Mosley tells us that we can teach any subject through the medium of puppets. This particular book is aimed at the early years, so infants up to 1st class though there is a book aimed at … Read more
This is a very practical handbook similar to the “Playground games” booklet that was reviewed on anseo.net last month. It is an easy to read handbook that is aimed a teachers, SNAs, parent helpers and any supervisors who is working on the lunch/break slot in Irish classrooms. It is divided up into helpful and concise … Read more